


well treated or crushed

by murdershewrote



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, News Media, Not A Fix-It, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Public Relations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-11-04 22:06:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10999977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murdershewrote/pseuds/murdershewrote
Summary: Natasha watches from Wakanda as Tony Stark plays the media like a fiddle, furious and impressed despite herself. Steve may have won the battle in Siberia, but Stark is winning the war of public opinion.(Steve should have killed Stark when he had the chance.)





	well treated or crushed

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for: language.
> 
> Title from quote by Machiavelli: “Upon this, one has to remark that men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge."

(The video of the bunker was streamed live, because of course it was. Zemo was a clever son of a bitch even in the depths of his grief but Tony knows he didn’t think big enough. Zemo planned to die - or get arrested - and so lost all control of the outcome. Tony is alive and free and he has decades to prove the bastard wrong.)

 

Natasha watches all the press conferences and interviews from Wakanda. It’s masterful, the way Tony Stark plays the media, spinning the story. The most impressive and horrifying thing is that he barely even has to lie.

 

_“Have you had any contact with the Rogue Avengers?”_

_“Given that I have a restraining order out on them, I do not expect to come within 500 feet of them for the next five years.”_

Natasha knows the restraining order is real, even if Clint is adamant it is just a publicity stunt. It’s a brilliant move: criminalizing not only their getting close to Stark, but also them accessing any Stark property, including the Avengers Compound upstate. The burden of proof for a restraining order is significantly lower and falls under American jurisdiction, unlike charges for actions in Berlin and Siberia which would be subject to the local court system. Wanda advocates confronting Stark, but Natasha will not take part in it. Violating a restraining order is classified as a misdemeanor and can get bumped up to a felony in conjunction with other crimes, like breaking and entering or assault. A restraining order won’t protect Stark in the moment if they go after him, but it will ensure he gets the last word with regard to the authorities.

 

_“I applaud King T’Challa’s efforts to continue work on the Sokovia Accords. If he shows as much determination in continuing his father’s work as he did in seeking his father’s killer, I expect the Accords will be executed very soon.”_

Natasha wonders if T’Challa winced when he saw that clip, if he understood it for the rebuke it was. A reminder of the hypocrisy of T’Challa calling for peace and understanding when he had hunted down his own father’s killer for revenge. Compared to Tony’s other appearances, this one is practically civil, even complimentary, if you didn’t hear the slight emphasis he put on _executed_ and the way it guilts T’Challa into continuing to support the Accords. It seems Stark can do subtle after all.

 

_“Do you have any idea where the fugitives have gone?”_

_“Considering the fact that King T’Challa was the one to deliver Zemo into custody and was therefore at the bunker and not incapacitated, I think you should be asking him that question. I was certainly not the one to get them out of Siberia, nor was I the one to break them out of the Raft.”_

Or maybe not so subtle. That is a threat clear enough for even the interviewer to see, judging by her discomfort. Stark is well-known for handling the media, but Tony has lost his patience for politeness. Once upon a time Natasha would have mistaken it for poorly-managed temper, but now she recognizes it as clear manipulation, a deliberate outburst to invoke a specific response. 

 

_“Barnes was indeed a prisoner of war and I cannot see how he could be held responsible for the Winter Soldier’s actions. However, he apparently broke his programming during the Shield fiasco, so it seems to me that all actions taken in the three years since then lie solely at his feet._

_“On the other hand, nobody has ever seen torture and conditioning on this scale before and it is impossible to know his true state of mind. It could be argued that Barnes is and was_ non compos mentis _in which case he needs extensive therapy in a secure environment, for his own safety and the safety of others.”_

The argument wouldn’t hold up in a court of law, but Stark is holding trial in the court of public opinion, and winning. He presents a false dichotomy: either Barnes was completely free of all control and making conscious decisions in Bucharest, Berlin, and Siberia, or he is still under the influence of Hydra. Either he spends the rest of his life in jail or in a heavily guarded mental institution. Most people will be so shocked that Tony is waiving Barnes’ responsibility for his parent’s murder away that they won’t look too closely at the rest of his argument. Tony comes out smelling like roses, a grieving man extending justice and mercy.

 

_“Despite their pasts, former-agents Romanoff and Barton had worked loyally for Shield for years before joining the Avengers. Director Fury vouched for them, and at the time we did not know how unsound his judgement truly was. I understand the Accords are being amended as we speak to tighten up the vetting process for Avengers.”_

Tony manages to discredit Fury and insinuate Natasha and Clint are Hydra all in one soundbite. Natasha is as impressed as she is furious, because people are going to believe him. She has been outplayed and it rankles, to know that she underestimated Tony Stark so badly.

 

_“Anger is understandable, but I beg for understanding for Wanda Maximoff. She is very young and likely suffering from arrested development and Hydra’s indoctrination. We have no way of knowing exactly what the effects of Hydra’s experimentation are, beside the obvious._

_“We must also remember what she has lost. Wanda grew up in a warzone and her parents were killed right in front of her eyes, a trauma no child should have to endure. While with Hydra she had only her brother Pietro to rely upon; with their isolation it is probable that Wanda’s entire sense of identity came from Pietro and that they existed in a state of mutual codependency. When Pietro was killed, Wanda lost her only friend, the last of her family, and the only person who could possibly understand the trauma she has been through._

_“I am no psychiatrist, but I would be amazed if Wanda made it through all that completely mentally and emotionally balanced. Her outbursts of anger are well documented, especially when she perceives she is threatened. Defensiveness and paranoia are common symptoms of PTSD.”_

Stark artfully turns Steve’s infantilization of Wanda around, absolving her of all wrongdoing. He absolves her of all decision-making at all; Wanda will be free from repercussions and also from making any further decisions. Tony proposes making her a ward of the state, someone else who cannot be trusted to look after herself or others.

He’s probably even right that Wanda has never made a real decision, only ever following Hydra’s or the Captain’s orders or reacting instinctively. It’s a kindness, even though neither Steve nor Wanda will see it that way, because a state home is still better than prison. It is also a beautiful ‘fuck you’ to Steve, a way of showing that Tony will twist every one of his arguments around. Tony has taken ‘she’s just a kid’ to its logical extreme, reducing Wanda legally to a child. 

 

_“I wish I could explain Steve Rogers’ actions to you, but I just can’t. I’ve been trying for weeks to match up the man who left me to die in a bunker with the man my father and my Aunt Peggy always talked about, but I just can’t. If he is the embodiment of the United States, then it is not the America I want to be part of.”_

Natasha wonders if Steve has realized his mistake, if he can yet feel the impending sense of doom, the trap closing in, the hounds baying for blood. She doubts it. Steve has always been blind, especially when it comes to Tony Stark. He has yet to realize exactly what type of enemy he made when he lied to Stark and left him for dead.

Stark doesn’t need to build weapons, just to incite the public to take up their own. Mob justice is vicious, unable to be stopped once it is put in motion, deaf and dumb to the entreaties of its prey. Rogers still believes he is in control, still believes he will change the public’s mind. 

By the time Captain America realizes his mistake, it will be too late. A shield is no use if the enemies are coming from all sides and Natasha has no intention of going down with him. The Black Widow knows all about running and hiding.

(Steve should have killed Stark when he had the chance.)

**Author's Note:**

> Because I definitely would not want Tony Stark for an enemy. (And I'm extremely pleased with myself for getting to use a Machiavelli quote.)
> 
> The formatting for this was a pain in the ass. Please let me know if it looks weird. Minor edits made on 7/16/17.
> 
> EDIT: As of 8/24/18 comment moderation is on. Please be nice to each other. 
> 
> Blanket permission for transformative works and collections. 
> 
> I'm on [tumblr.](http://murdersshewrote.tumblr.com)


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